By Jim Wilkerson
Lincoln Parish Police Jury Treasurer, Laura Hartt, presented the budget for July 2021 to the Police Jury on August 10. While there are some areas hemorrhaging money, other areas are making up for those losses by outperforming their original projections. Overall, the jury is on track to break even for 2021.
Most notably, the ad valorem taxes have brought in a substantial amount of money, grossing up to $5,144,545 in revenue so far. This is less than 2% below the estimated revenue of $5,206,320, meaning the tax will bring in an excess of money that can be spent elsewhere to cover losses. Indeed, $52,827 of ad valorem taxes have already gone to the library, although the original library budget did not include ad valorem taxes.
The sales tax, which increased from 5.5 percent to 6.0 percent last October, is another significant source of revenue for the Police Jury. “Sales taxes are booming,” Hartt said, citing page 6 of the budget report which shows that the sales and use tax has already brought in $3,137,769 of the projected $4,546,560.
It is interesting to note that, besides the library, all of the funds which have either the sales tax or the ad valorem taxes included in their budgets have excess revenue. Most of the other unfortunate funds have a deficit.
The library is undoubtedly hemorrhaging the most, with an ending deficit of $935,854. Meanwhile, the road construction fund has brought in $1,106,782 in excess revenue, most of which can be accredited to the ad valorem taxes.
Lincoln Parish Police Jury Treasurer’s Report for July 2021 here:
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